The Republican National Committee (RNC) has passed a resolution that “encourages Republican lawmakers to immediately take action to halt current unconstitutional surveillance programs and provide a full public accounting of the NSA’s data collection programs.”

The resolution, according to Time, was approved by an overwhelming majority voice vote at the Republican National Committee’s Winter Meeting General Session, going on this week in Washington, DC.

The Republican statement comes just one day after the White House said it disagreed with the findings of a Congress-approved watchdog group that also called for the shutdown of the NSA telephone metadata program.

The RNC, which did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment, is refining its political platform as it gears up for the 2014 Congressional elections this November and the 2016 presidential race.

The resolution also states that “unwarranted government surveillance is an intrusion on basic human rights that threatens the very foundations of a democratic society and this program represents a gross infringement of the freedom of association and the right to privacy and goes far beyond even the permissive limits set by the Patriot Act.”

However, the document seems to conflate the PRISM surveillance program with the ongoing metadata dragnet that has been validated by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Its opening paragraph states:

Whereas, the secret surveillance program called PRISM targets, among other things, the surveillance of U.S. citizens on a vast scale and monitors searching habits of virtually every American on the internet; whereas this dragnet program is, as far as we know, the largest surveillance effort ever launched by a democratic government against its own citizens, consisting of the mass acquisition of Americans’ call details encompassing all wireless and landline subscribers of the country’s three largest phone companies.

In fact, PRISM is the title of an intelligence program through which the National Security Agency accesses user data handed over from major tech companies collected under legal authorities such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act (FISA AA) Section 702 and Executive Order 12333.

The RNC appears to also have ignored the fact that much of the NSA’s surveillance capability that is now being roundly criticized in the wake of the Snowden leaks first began under President George W. Bush, a Republican. Further, elements of the program were approved by a Republican-majority Congress, such as the FISA AA, which passed both houses of Congress in 2008 and was signed by Bush.

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I had to read this twice since I so seldom agree with anything in the Republican platform. If this gets any traction among Republicans in Congress, we might actually see some action and things might change for the better. It's pretty clear that Democrats like President Obama, Dianne Feinstein and others are firmly invested in the status quo, so maybe this will be one area where Republicans will take the lead and we'll all end up better off.

MIGHT get away with it? It's a certainty. Welcome to post-post-modern politics -- the only thing that matters is the traction of the narrative, not any underlying facts. Just keep repeating it until it's the new truth.

There are a bunch of smarmy articles floating around along the lines of "How could the Republicans be for this after the Bush years? How could the stupid Republicans be right about this?" and the answer is basically that a huge number of us "Paultards" are working within the Republican party to change it to a party of limited, constitutional governance.

The establishment has nothing to do with this whatsoever, and they hate the idea of boxing up that shiny new toy they were gonna play with when they next regain control.

So GOP wants people to forget it was a Republican Congress and Republican President passed the abomination of a law enabling all these and started this program? This is not GOP working for the interest of people, this is GOP doing the opposite of whatever Obama is doing, even if they proposed/started it in the first place.

Hopefully we don't see this issue be 'the' issue that makes the voting public neglect all of the things that really matter.

It would suck if this was enough to put a candidate who would dismiss a large chunk of the national population as freeloaders in the same dinner he talks about how much Chinese workers like working in razor-wire fenced factories under brutal hours with brutal work conditions. One with policies to cut taxes on the upper class and cut subsidies to green energy in equal proportions.

So GOP wants people to forget it was a Republican Congress and Republican President passed the abomination of a law enabling all these and started this program? This is not GOP working for the interest of people, this is GOP doing the opposite of whatever Obama is doing, even if they proposed/started it in the first place.

Who cares, as long as the blanket suspicionless surveillance gets stopped? I don't really care who gets the blame or what the public remembers or doesn't remember. I want to be able to use the phone without creating a lifelong record of who I call.

I don't really care who gets the blame or what the public remembers or doesn't remember.

Those who forget history...

I think the important lesson to remember is that both parties will quite happily screw you over, then attempt to fudge the narrative and change history so that it looks like it's the other guy's fault.

The Republican statement comes just one day after the White House said it disagreed with the findings of a Congress-approved watchdog group that also called for the shutdown of the NSA telephone metadata program.

Most of their positions are simply "Not-Obama". If I suspected the administration of being devious, I'd wonder if they aren't intentionally manipulating the RNC (I don't believe that, because this administration has a strong "secret police" leaning which is not unique to Democrats).

There are a bunch of smarmy articles floating around along the lines of "How could the Republicans be for this after the Bush years? How could the stupid Republicans be right about this?" and the answer is basically that a huge number of us "Paultards" are working within the Republican party to change it to a party of limited, constitutional governance.

The establishment has nothing to do with this whatsoever, and they hate the idea of boxing up that shiny new toy they were gonna play with when they next regain control.

I think a better idea is to just drop the party entirely, get away from the entrenched elements that have turned the GOP into yes men for corporate interests.

I joined the Libertarians long ago, and really think it's in the overall interest of the nation to break down the two party system that has led us to such a pathetic state.

So GOP wants people to forget it was a Republican Congress and Republican President passed the abomination of a law enabling all these and started this program? This is not GOP working for the interest of people, this is GOP doing the opposite of whatever Obama is doing, even if they proposed/started it in the first place.

Who cares, as long as the blanket suspicionless surveillance gets stopped? I don't really care who gets the blame or what the public remembers or doesn't remember. I want to be able to use the phone without creating a lifelong record of who I call.

Sure getting the end result is important. But let's just not forget who got us there in the first place. This is a political ploy, better if we keep that in mind, and in politics who gets the blame is the most important part. Otherwise we get into the shit over and over again.

Wow. It only took six months for the Republicans to figure out that they should make the most popular political move possible after the Snowden leaks started. How are they going to walk back all their previous bullshit about how amazingly necessary all of these apparently unconstitutional programs are?

Wow. It only took six months for the Republicans to figure out that they should make the most popular political move possible after the Snowden leaks started. How are they going to walk back all their previous bullshit about how amazingly necessary all of these apparently unconstitutional programs are?

Wow. It only took six months for the Republicans to figure out that they should make the most popular political move possible after the Snowden leaks started. How are they going to walk back all their previous bullshit about how amazingly necessary all of these apparently unconstitutional programs are?

They won't need to walk it back. They're counting on you to forget about it. When serious discussions of policy can be interrupted for "breaking news" about Justin Bieber driving under the influence, you know your democracy is in trouble.

So GOP wants people to forget it was a Republican Congress and Republican President passed the abomination of a law enabling all these and started this program? This is not GOP working for the interest of people, this is GOP doing the opposite of whatever Obama is doing, even if they proposed/started it in the first place.

I'm waiting for Obama to give a 'Don't drink Bleach' speech.The next day you'd see prominent Republicans touting the antibiotic benefits of a glass of Clorox a day.

Wow. It only took six months for the Republicans to figure out that they should make the most popular political move possible after the Snowden leaks started. How are they going to walk back all their previous bullshit about how amazingly necessary all of these apparently unconstitutional programs are?

In the fall (2013) the main republican author of patriot act announced a bill with a democrat to stop a lot of this data collection. He's been in the news since stating that this isn't the intent of the patriot act.

Not saying he's all clean and pure as snow, just sayin' that some politicians from both sides have been on the record for quite awhile against this. Gives me hope that maybe some of them--occasionally--have a glimmer of personal conviction.

to halt current unconstitutional surveillance programs and provide a full public accounting of the NSA’s data collection programs.

"... until we get control of the White House again."

Who is this"we" you speak of? Not the Democrats, and certainly not the Republicans. For now I will be happy just electing ethical candidates who will work for the good of the country. If they happen to be Democrat or Republican - I may forgive them.

Wow. It only took six months for the Republicans to figure out that they should make the most popular political move possible after the Snowden leaks started. How are they going to walk back all their previous bullshit about how amazingly necessary all of these apparently unconstitutional programs are?

In the fall (2013) the main republican author of patriot act announced a bill with a democrat to stop a lot of this data collection. He's been in the news since stating that this isn't the intent of the patriot act.

Not saying he's all clean and pure as snow, just sayin' that some politicians from both sides have been on the record for quite awhile against this. Gives me hope that maybe some of them--occasionally--have a glimmer of personal conviction.

I just wrote to my congressman to ask whether or not his position has changed in light of this resolution, and if not why he disagrees with the PCLOB's findings. I suggest others do the same, we need to make them aware that we're watching, we're angry, and we vote.

Sometimes I forget that the Republicans passed this without any support from the Democrats. I had to look back at the votes to confirm that it wasn't both parties who blindly voted the Patriot Act into law, many without reading it. Love when people pin something both sides have done on just the "bad guys."

Edit: I thought it was pretty clear that this was sarcasm, but considering the multiple replies about how wrong I am because the Dems also voted for it I suppose you can't ever assume. [/s] Happy now?

Thanks for calling it like it is Cyrus Farivar. I'm with the Republicans all the way here, but it's pretty obvious they're doing it to be contrarian and cause problems for our President. That said the Democrats have largely fallen in line behind the President, because he's the President, despite them previously stating other views. Disappointing all around.

My suspicion is that Obama is just saying this to get republicans to ban the surveilence they initiated in the first place. All Obama has to do to get the republicans to vote liberal is to take conservative stances. We've been joking about it for the last year and a half, now we're seeing that it can actually be done. Hilarious. I wonder what's up next?

President Obama has had many opportunities to take advantage of situations and make some arguments from the Presidency that would have been brutally damaging to the Republican's, but for the most part he's refused to use his strongest arguments across the board, and played the game straight and honest, even giving up negotiating positions because of it. I wish what you suggest were true, but given President Obama's past actions I can't imagine you're anything but wrong in your supposition.